Time Is Ticking
by hazelle
Summary: Movieverse, oneshot, PeterMJ. Why on earth does Spiderman of all people want to meet Mary Jane under a clock tower at midnight? And why is he so nervous?


**Wow, it feels good to be back. I've been branching out into other fandoms lately, but it's nice to be back to good ol' Spidey. Just a little one-shot I came up with. I've been watching too many old films with my mum :P**

**Time Is Ticking**

The moon was just peaking out from its blanket of clouds. The air was warm yet the breeze pleasantly cool. The night sky was pinpricked with faint stars that MJ could just make out above the glare of the city lights below her small balcony. She sighed to herself, thinking how it was a shame that she was the only one in all of New York watching the stars. Too many city dwellers were more concerned about their busy jobs or meaningless errands than the simple beauty of a star at night now.

She was wrong, though. Not far away, another was preoccupied with staring at the sky rather than watching where he was going. Spider-man sighed to himself, wondering if anyone else was able to appreciate the night sky or if he was the only one. He had a vague idea of where he was, and somewhere at the back of his mind his brain was telling him to turn around and forget he'd ever even thought about revealing his deepest darkest secret to Mary Jane Watson. Especially at this time of morning.

He doubted she would be awake, and on that belief his yearning to be close to her overrode his common sense and he continued swinging to her apartment. Before he knew it he'd swung around the corner of a building and almost ran smack into the brick wall of her apartment. As he sorted himself out and stamped on the emergency brakes, he noticed she was very much awake and staring at him in comical surprise. At the back of his mind he cursed himself for being so stupid, as the front of his mind was too busy drowning in the sight of her that he couldn't think straight.

MJ stood up properly, her brows furrowed together in surprise and the corners of her lips tugging outwards in laughter. She suppressed the urge to giggle and walked closer to Spider-man, watching as he straightened himself out and perched on the wall near her head.

Allowing herself a delicate smile, she greeted him curiously, "Hi. What are you doing way out here?"

"Well, the obvious reply would be smacking into a wall, but if you really want to know… I… wanted to see you." He said, feeling the butterflies flap in his stomach. He swallowed.

"You did?" A pleased smile spread across her face, and she leant forward on the railing. "I thought you'd be too busy." She admitted, her smile fading as she bit her tongue. What she'd meant to say was 'I thought you didn't care.'

"Um, yeah, I was, but like I said, I wanted to see you." He said and immediately regretted it. It _was_ what he'd wanted to tell her, but a part of him felt it was too…forward. "And I figured the criminals wouldn't mind too much if I took a few minutes off." He added quickly.

"I'm sure they'd understand." MJ replied, smiling, then tilted her head invitingly. To her, it seemed like he wanted to say more, but something was holding him back. "So, is there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?"

He looked at her for a moment, startled at her perceptiveness, then hesitantly said, "Yes, actually. I…" He shifted uncomfortably on the wall, looking around as if for an escape. "I… wanted to…" He was drowning out at sea, flailing for a life-ring which was not forthcoming.

"Ok." He took a deep breath, steeling himself. He decided if he said the words quickly it wouldn't be so hard. "Meet-me-underneath-the-clock-tower-in-Central-Park-tomorrow-night-at-midnight?"

That wasn't what he'd wanted to say at all, and he gave himself the best mental kick he could without physically bringing his foot to his head. MJ opened her mouth, faltered for a moment, then smiled brightly over her disappointment. She'd been sure he'd wanted to say something else, but his fears had held him back, just like they had hers. "Ah… sure."

"Great." Spider-man breathed out a sigh of relief and got ready to go. He knew if he stayed there a second longer he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to gather her in his arms and tell her everything. Which was what he'd originally been planning on doing, but his vocal chords and his common sense didn't seem to want to comply.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later." He said softly, glancing at her one last time to fix the image of her face in his mind.

"Yeah." MJ replied, equally softly. A faint curious smile came to her lips as he nodded at her before launching himself off the structure. She stared into the night long after he'd disappeared.

* * *

Peter gave himself a series of mental kicks all the way home. He was furious at himself. He thought he'd worked up the courage to go to her and tell her the truth about his feelings and his identity, and then his big fat mouth had gone and ruined it all. The atmosphere had been perfect, he couldn't have dreamed of a better moment in which to tell her. After he'd said the wrong thing it hadn't seemed right somehow. 

Feeling a mixture of disappointment and trepidation, he let his webs take him wherever they wanted to go.

* * *

Nearly an hour after Spider-man had left, MJ roused herself from the trance she'd gone into, and headed back inside to her warm apartment, giving the city one last lingering look, imagining Spider-man performing some sort of amazing aerial acrobatic before she switched off the light and slumped into bed. 

MJ lay awake for nearly as long as she'd stood watching the spot where Spider-man had disappeared into the night. He'd been unusually jittery and tongue-tied around her, a trait she definitely hadn't come to associate with the Amazing Spider-man. The only reasons she could think of for being nervous was when waiting backstage for the curtain call, asking someone you'd fancied for ages out, and having to tell someone that you'd done something wrong, something stupid or a secret. Or all of the above.

And the few reasons she could think of for being tongue-tied, was if you were naturally shy, and even more so if you were around your long time crush, and again if you had to tell someone something you'd rather keep to yourself. Drawing up a mental list, MJ found that two of those reasons were repeated, one in each column, and so concluded that Spider-man was actually extremely shy, about to ask her out on a date, and tell her his deepest, darkest secret. MJ laughed out loud and turned over to get some sleep, shaking her head at herself for being so stupid.

* * *

Peter finally headed home in the early hours of the morning. He hadn't noticed his dreamy state but it appeared the criminals of NYC had, for they were unusually active to his annoyance. Sinking into bed, his last thought was what he was going to do when he met Mary Jane underneath the clock tower.

* * *

The morning dawned bright and far too early for both Peter and MJ, but whereas the time flew for Peter, the hours dragged past maddeningly slowly for MJ. She was just about to scream or walk out or throw something heavy at her boss, when the clock chimed 8 o'clock, the end of her shift. A smile quickly replaced her frown, and before anyone could blink she was out of there and into a foamy hot bath in her cosy apartment. 

Still, midnight couldn't come quickly enough, nothing would stop her from getting there, not the bath overflowing, not the washer jamming, not even the phone ringing on her way out the door.

"_Miss. Watson? _I hope you know I'm taking the money out of your pay check for being late this morning!"

MJ hesitated in the doorway, torn between rushing to Spider-man and saying something extremely rude to her boss. In the end she compromised and threw a nearby shoe at her answering machine, abruptly cutting off Enrique's complaints with a satisfying 'clunk.'

MJ walked quickly to Times Square, ever conscious of the time. She would have hailed a taxi but she was also conscious of her empty pockets. Thrusting her hands into said pockets as a harsh breeze ruffled her hair, she cautiously stepped around the corner of a building, and the clock tower came into sight.

Nobody was there. Besides the few people milling about the square, either on dates or with no other place to go, that is. MJ restrained the disappointment she felt welling up in her heart and instead walked briskly and directly to stand underneath the huge clock face, nearly thirty feet above her head.

She waited there for the next twenty minutes, occasionally looking about her for a flash of red and blue, but on the whole she huddled against the wall and shivered. As she did so, she couldn't help but wonder at the absence of the superhero, and wondered if it was down to the remaining people around - after all, MJ was sure he'd attract quite a lot of attention if he suddenly swung down from nowhere into their midst. So why had he suggested this location in the first place? Sure, it was traditional for two people to meet in darkest night under a clock tower, both sporting white carnations, but Spider-man was perhaps the least traditional man she knew of.

A siren suddenly sounded nearby and MJ was reminded of another reason for his lack of presence. It wasn't like he had all the time in the world, he had certain responsibilities and sacrifices that came with being a superhero. Like never being on time. So she settled down to wait once more, glancing up at the clock face every minute or so only to find that it was nearly half an hour since she'd been standing there, and ten minutes since Spider-man should have been there. OK, so she hadn't been able to wait the four hours from the end of her shift to midnight and had arrived a little early.

"Serves me right." MJ said to herself as a particularly strong blast of cold air tugged her trench coat undone. Muttering under her breath, she hastily wrapped it back around her body and tied it tightly. She was so preoccupied she didn't notice a man sneaking up behind her.

She span around as the man tapped her on the shoulder, heart jumping into her throat, and promptly fell into Peter Parker's arms.

"Peter!" She gasped, feeling herself relax instantly, her breathing returning to normal. "What are you doing here?" She was completely struck dumb, why would Peter be out at this time of night at this exact spot?

"Hi." Peter said, smiling softly. He hesitated for a second then said resolutely. "Sorry I'm late."

"Huh?" MJ replied intelligently. Peter tilted his head expectantly, waiting as the pieces fell into place and the puzzle suddenly made sense. MJ gasped again, more violently than before, and stumbled back from him in her shock.

"Spider-man?" MJ whispered tremulously, having to confirm what she already knew to herself.

Peter simply nodded, somewhat sadly. MJ blinked. For a time they just stared at each other, both getting used to the situation. Then she abruptly sat down on the base of the structure.

"So this is what you wanted to tell me." She gave out a little incredulous laugh without really knowing why, and Peter slowly came to sit next to her. "I thought… I thought you might want to tell me something like this last night, after you'd left, but I never actually believed it." She shook her head, smiling at the absurdity of it. Peter glanced at her.

"No." He said cryptically. "It's not, actually."

"What?" MJ looked up at him, frowning at the prospect of yet another revelation.

"What I really wanted to tell you was…" He trailed off and sighed, not knowing how to phrase it. He looked down at his hands in embarrassment, and a gloved one suddenly materialised on top of them. Peter glanced back at MJ and smiled shakily, before taking a deep breath and going on.

"You remember, that day, at the cemetery?"

MJ nodded, her eyes filling with pain at the subject. For the last three months she'd been trying to avoid thinking about that day.

"You remember, what I told you?" Peter continued, noticing her pain.

MJ nodded again, puzzlement now filling her expression.

"It was a lie."

Her breath caught in her throat and she gasped the loudest yet. "You… mean that?"

"I would never cause you pain willingly." Peter replied, steadfast, his eyes telling the truth of the matter. Feeling slightly worried at her lack of response, he gingerly said, "I brought you a carnation." Smiling and feeling like a foolish old romantic, he brought out the white flower from behind his back. Still in a state of shock, MJ took it robotically, turning it over in her hands before looking up at him as if to say, 'Is this really happening?'

As if to reject her suspicions, Peter finally said, with much apprehension, "What do you say?"

A slow, overjoyed smile spread across her face, lighting up her features, and she leaned forward and kissed him firmly on the mouth before he had chance to object.

It was all she needed to say.

**Fin**

**I'm not overly thrilled with this story but I don't hate it either, so it's staying up. I wrote it a while ago and didn't put it up then because I wasn't satisfied with it, I'm still not as a matter of fact but I'm sick of it lying around my hard drive like a dehydrated dog on a hot day. Whew, weird metaphor.**

**By the way, I have no idea if there's a clock tower in Central Park or not, but for the sake of my story there is. Artistic license and all that. ;)**

**Please review!**


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